The Curutelo Castle is a well-preserved medieval castle located in the civil parish of Ardegão, in the municipality of Ponte de Lima.
There are many interpretations as to the construction of the palace of Curutelo. Félix Machado, in his notes on the nobility of the Count of São Pedro, stated that the structure existed during the time of Ferdinand I of León who conquered Coimbra from the Moors, and gave it to Nuno Nudiz. João Salgado de Araújo, Abbey of Perre, indicates that it was constructed by the Asturian nobleman Alarico (powerful descendant of the Goths) around 800. The building remained in the inheritance of his descendants until D. Urraca Landufes, who married Nuno Nudiz. Figueiredo Guerra indicates that the building was erected in 1532, by João Rodrigues do Lago, and that there was no castle at the time that Nuno Viegas and his wife, Inês Dias, instituting the Majorat, which was later confirmed by D. João I on 14 December 1395. Figueiredo da Guerra suggests that the estate palace was built in the first half of the 16th century, and followed a typology inspired by the medieval tower-residence.
During the stewardship of the 5th Majorat of Coucieiro, around 1532, the lands were sold to Duke D. Jaime, becoming the owner of the residence, tower, castle and estate of Curutelo. He eventually called on the nobleman João Rodrigues de Lago (son of Rui Gomes) to render services and conquer Azamar, resulting in the estate becoming the possession of his descendant in the following centuries.
Following the marriage of D. Maria de Felgueiras Gajo with Dr. Rodrigo Augusto Cerqueira Velozo (a Barcelos lawyer) in 1867, work was begun on modernizing the tower, that included opening spaces for new windows and doors. Yet, not having any heirs, before her death, D. Maria Felgueiras Gajo, named her husband as benefactor, resulting in litigation in the courts, that ultimately sided with Dr. Rodrigo Velozo.
The structure is situated in a harmonious, rural landscape, half-way up the mount of São Cristóvão dos Milagres, also known as São Cristóvão do Curutelo, overlooking a small valley covered in forest. It is encircled by a high wall, with ivy-covered, rectangular gated access alongside the roadway.
Similar to many of the manor-houses in the Alto Minho constructed in the 16th century, the palace of Curutelo combines the symmetry and regularity of the civil architecture associated with the Renaissance, with medieval keep tower, which at the time had a defensive function, symbolizing the nobility and power of property-owners. Its plan focuses on a single-story rectangular section, that includes a central, elevated square tower. The main body of the building is crowned by pyramidal merlons, with gargoyles situated along regular spaces on the facade. In comparison, the frontispiece is austere, with a few regular guillotine-style windows and doors with simple frames.
In the courtyard of the estate is a chapel dedicated to Santo Amaro, with a simple typology similar to the manor-house. It has a simple facade, divided into two registers by friezes, with simple rectangular frame surmounted by window, and accompanied by a truncated, rectangular bell-tower. The interior of this single-nave church includes a high-choir and presbytery in gilded woodwork.
Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).